The Source of Power
by Yamiko Number 7
Summary: Something weird is going on with Rosette, and nobody can figure out what or why. She disappears at the same time each day and comes back...changed, somehow. Slight RxC. Better than the summary, I promise. FINISHED!
1. A Slightly Disturbing Trend

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

Before I start anything...if you're reading this right now, it means it's been posted. You're looking at a miracle.

Now for the back story.

Have you ever read/watched something where you don't know the entire back story, so you fill in the blanks with your own characters/reasons/events to make it work somehow? I end up doing that a lot, and they all end up as massive crossovers with major OC's. (Sigh) If you've ever read my (partial, now dead) fic "Box of Chocolates," you'd have read my Let's-Fill-In-The-Blanks version of Yu-Gi-Oh. This one is part of my LFITB for Chrno Crusade, the manga (never, NEVER the anime). To start you off, if there's a reference you don't get, ask about it: It's either part of the series that you only notice after having read each volume of the manga a bazillion times (grin), or the more likely case is it's something I've made up that I haven't explained yet.

Let's do the disclaimers now: 1) I do not own Chrno Crusade, nor anything affiliated with it. I own my original characters. (If you don't recognize a name, I've probably made it up. If you recognize the name from somewhere else, I've probably given one of my OC's the same name and it's not the character of whom you are thinking.)

2) I wrote this for me. If you don't like it, that's absolutely fine with me; however, I will not change it to suit your whims. (If I do that, not only is it a massive case of peer pressure, but things that happen later on won't work.)

Explanation time. (Without this, people, you might never get it. Please bear with me here.)

This story takes place after the end of the manga. (That would be the spoiler warning.) I have, however, slightly screwed with the manga time line. Instead of staying at Seventh Bell, Rosette is still with the Order. Chrno returns to her not after seven years, but only after two months. He has his horns back. (All the fangirls celebrate.) After a confession of love and several subsequent angst-ridden hours, the two are now a couple. (If you want more details on that one, go read "Dear Diary.")

This story takes place about a month after that: long enough for the two to get accustomed to the idea of a relationship, but not long enough for them to get...well, comfortable.

One final disclaimer (puff puff pant): I have no idea if the stuff I talk about in this fic could even conceivably work, even in the CC universe. (Sigh) If you come up with a reason why it can't, by all means let me know...just don't expect me to change it. (See Disclaimer Number 2.)

Are we all ready? Everybody's seatbelts are buckled? No? Great! On with the fic!

* * *

_Chapter One: A Slightly Disturbing Trend_

"Wait. Wait! Rosette, I...Wait!" Sigh. Slump. "...DAMN!"

"That," Joshua observed drily, "went well."

"Gee, thanks," Chrno replied from his seat on the edge of the fountain in the Order's central courtyard, head in his hands. "I hadn't noticed."

"What happened?" Azmaria took a seat next to him.

"Damned if I know." Another sigh escaped the demon's lips. "I did something to piss her off...again...somehow..."

"Maybe you should...I dunno...give her some space?" Joshua suggested weakly.

Chrno gave a short, bitter laugh. "Are you kidding me? I 'give her space,' she accuses me of ignoring her. I pay attention, she makes some crack about being attached at the hip! I can't win!"

"She has been rather...short-tempered...lately," Azmaria offered.

"Yeah." Joshua nodded slowly, then looked at Chrno. "You don't think it's her time of the -"

Chrno face reddened and he cut Joshua short. "How would I know that!"

"It's not," Azmaria said authoritatively.

Both men stopped and sent surprised looks in her direction. "Authoritative" was not normally a tone heard from the mild, slightly timid apostle.

Azmaria blushed slightly. "Please stop talking about it," she said quietly. "It's rather embarrassing. Plus, I'm sure Rosette wouldn't be pleased with you if she heard you."

Chrno sighed again. Three times in two minutes: a record he wasn't sure he wanted to break. "She's rarely ever "pleased" with me anymore, Az," he said calmly. "I don't think this conversation would really matter one way or another."

"Yeah, she's really not a morning person."

All three turned to look at the addition to the conversation: The Magdalene Order's own Three Musketeers, Sisters Anna, Mary, and Claire.

"Haven't you noticed?" Claire questioned.

Chrno had to bite back a sarcastic comment, something along the lines of "well, obviously not, please educate me, O Enlightened One." He didn't think that would go over too well.

Had he tested the theory, he would've found it to be correct.

"She's _never_ in a good mood in the morning," Anna finished.

"It's really gotten worse lately." Mary nodded empathetically.

"Since last...Thursday," Anna clarified.

"Then she disappears every day about this time and comes back walking on sunshine," Claire finished. "I wonder what she does out there..."

"Well..." Anna grinned. "Wanna go find out?"

"Sure!" Mary squealed.

After bidding the three at the fountain a hasty goodbye, the musketeers turned to head in the direction the parting Rosette had taken not ten minutes earlier.

Chrno blinked and turned to his companions. "Please tell me I'm not the only one who's missed this entire thing."

Joshua and Azmaria shook their heads. No, they too had failed to notice this slightly disturbing trend.

"Well, it's only Wednesday, right?" Joshua asked - rhetorically, Chrno hoped. "It can't have been going on that long."

"Well, peg me as the jealous boyfriend-" Chrno got to his feet. "-but I really don't like this."

I don't like it at all.

* * *

(Sigh) That was a really short chapter...my intros generally tend to be teeny little things, though. Nothing to worry about: the chapters will get longer once we hit the meat of this story. (We don't do that 'til about Chapter Three or Four, though...bear with me here, it'll happen at its own little pace.)

As for what's going on with Rosette...you'll just have to wait until Chapter Two to figure that out.

(Looks at her clock) It is no longer tonight. It is tomorrow. (Read: 12:27 am) I should really stop writing and go to bed before both my writing and my temper suffer. (Sigh) Decisions, decisions.

Well, thanks for trying this out, and I'll see you all in Chapter Two! R&R (rest and relaxation...I mean, um, heh heh) please!


	2. Ritual

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

Chapter Two is (obviously) here! I'm surprised that you've all stuck around for this thing. (Looks out into the audience, sees nothing but empty chairs) (Crickets chirp)

...Or maybe you all have better things to read (cough) I mean do. (Shrugs) Whatever. I'll just...deal...somehow...(does that weird little laughing/crying thing, also known in Yamiko-ese as "having a moment.")

(Deep breath) Moment over. On with the fic!

* * *

_Chapter Two: Ritual_

Rosette shivered slightly in anticipation as she wove through the trees. Damn, but this was the best thing that ever happened to her.

On second thought, not really. Getting her brother back was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Her...for lack of a better word, "relationship"...with Chrno was the second best. This came in a close third.

Pretty darn good, considering.

She didn't really understand why her so-called partner wanted to meet all the way to heck and back out here in the woods, though. She also didn't know why she'd never seen his face, or why this had to happen at the same time each day. She only knew he was male from the timbre of his voice.

Whatever. She shook those seemingly minor worries from her thoughts. He'd never mentioned a price, and he was giving her what she wanted.

Who was she to complain?

"Hello," she called softly, sitting herself down gingerly on an old stump that had long since been abandoned by its tree. "I'm here."

"So you are." He appeared behind her. There simply was no other word for it. She never saw or heard him coming: he was simply there.

That was how it had happened when they had first met. When he first found her out on that same stump, nursing a slashed arm and cursing her weaknesses.

That was when he'd proposed the deal.

It had sounded good, better than good. She had accepted.

That had been...how long?

Almost a week ago. Last Thursday.

"Are you ready?"

She looked back at him, grinning, trying and failing to catch a glimpse of his face. "I'm always ready."

"Good to know." He slid his hand up under her habit and placed it palm down on the back of her neck.

She tensed with the initial jolt of pain of the connection, then relaxed into it as the flow of raw power from his body into hers eased the first shock as well as the pains of the morning and made her feel...well, alive.

It was almost like a contract, she mused silently. Except in reverse. She was gaining energy from him, instead of the other way around.

She began to wonder for the umpteenth time what was in it for him. As it had happened umpteen times before, the thought slipped away on the flow of energy the moment it entered her mind. She had never fully been able to consider it.

She wasn't worried about it.

Not too much, anyway.

He slowly pulled his hand away. She stood and turned, once again unable to see his face. "Thanks."

"No problem." There was something in his voice, something she didn't really like...

That thought, too, floated away on the afterglow of the energy passage.

"Same time tomorrow," her "partner-of-sorts" said shortly. Then - just like that - he was gone.

Rosette turned and headed back to the Order, not giving it another thought. She hoped she would have a mission waiting for her. It would be duck soup, she thought. She was confident that today, things would go well.

Eerily confident.

* * *

Another day, another chapter...yeah, I only wish I wrote that fast. Not only that, but this chapter is also insanely _SHORT_. (Sigh) ...Come to think of it, I should have just tacked this on to Chapter One...(more sighing ensues) Oh well. Wasn't really thinking, I guess. I guarantee, though: Chapter Three will be MUCH longer. (Chapter Three actually has some plot development! What a concept! Whee!)

(Looks up at what she just wrote) Way, _way_ too much sugar. That chocolate-raspberry dessert sure was good, though...mmm...

As is often the case when I write, it is no longer tonight: it is tomorrow (12-something (my clock is fast) am). Again, I must stop here before something suffers. But before I go, a preview of Chapter Three:

_He leaned over her shoulder and kissed her._

_He would later compare it to inserting a live electrical wire into one's mouth. Not that he had ever done something so idiotic, but he'd heard stories of the results. The initial shock, the pain, the inability to let go - the symptoms sounded akin to those he felt during that one kiss._

_He shouldn't have been able to feel that energy. It never should have been there. His horns began to scream._

_Something was wrong. Very, very wrong._

See? I told you there would be a plot! Oh, Yamiko is so pleased with herself...n.n

Thank you for sticking with me thus far, please stay tuned for Chapter Three, and have some very wonderful holidays! (While you're at it, please leave me a happy little gift in my mailbox...all I want is reviews. n.n)

Merry Christmas!


	3. Jolt

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

So how was everybody's Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Fill-In-The-Holiday? Mine was fine, thanks...just great. (My brothers and I got along for a whole eleven hours straight. I'm telling ya, miracles DO happen. O.O Really.)

Back to the not-so-daily grind and the systematic cranking out of Chapter Three. This one should be a little (or maybe probably hopefully A LOT) longer than the previous two chapters (let's see if I can break 3 pages). Like I said, miracles do happen.

So, without any further ado or idiotic blabbering on my part, I present Chapter Three!

* * *

_Chapter Three: Jolt_

Chrno raised an eyebrow at the return of the trio of bedraggled nuns. He was glad Joshua and Azmaria had gone inside: the latter would have panicked and worried at the appearance of the three. The former would simply have laughed. "So, how did it go?" he inquired. "Did you manage to find Rosette?"

"No," Claire pouted.

"Anna got us lost," Mary complained.

"Hey." Anna shrugged. "I just said to go left. You didn't have to listen to me, you know."

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," Claire quoted, waxing poetic. "We took the one less traveled by..."

"...And ended up falling into a creek," Mary finished, wringing dirty water out of the hem of her dress.

"Then we had to crawl through that bramble patch." Anna rolled her eyes and pulled one of the aforementioned brambles out of her hair. "That was absolutely ridiculous."

"Well," Chrno quirked his other eyebrow to match the first, "do you think the beating would have been any worse if you had managed to find Rosette and walked in on her?"

They all stopped and blinked at him.

"Um," Claire said slowly, "I'm pretty sure you're the only person she beats."

"That's not true," Mary piped up. "She hits the Elder all the time."

"Yeah, but the Elder deserves it." Anna turned to Chrno. "Sorry." She shrugged. "You want to find her, you're going to have to go yourself. There's no way we're going out that way again." This statement was met with murmurs of assent from Mary and Claire.

Chrno sighed. "I'm sorry things went so badly." He flashed them a winning smile. "Thanks anyway for helping."

All three girls blushed at that. Mary began to giggle. The fact that Rosette and Chrno were and official "couple" and that they had been so for weeks didn't stop the three young nuns from having major crushes on him.

He knew it, too. Hence the smile.

"Oh, don't worry." Anna, the only one who seemed to be able to speak through her crush and blush combo, responded with a huge grin. "We were happy to do it. Weren't we, girls?"

Claire and Mary simply nodded.

Claire, ever the sensible one, finally snapped out of it. "Um...weren't we supposed to clean the church today?"

"Oh yeah!" Anna snapped her fingers. She flashed another grin - "See ya, Chrno!" - and headed off with her two friends towards the chapel, uncontrollable giggling floating after them in the late morning air.

Chrno waited until they were out of earshot to start laughing. He laid down on the wide rim of the fountain and laughed until tears formed in the corners of his eyes and his sides ached. He had no idea why those three made him laugh so hard or so much. They just...did.

He certainly wasn't complaining.

"So what's so funny?"

He opened one eye. "Three words: Anna, Mary, and Claire." He sat up and patted the spot next to him, motioning for Rosette to sit.

"That's four words." She perched next to him on the fountain rim.

He turned a hesitant half-smile towards her. "Still angry?"

"Nope." She smiled, shaking her head and turned sideways, leaning her back against his shoulder.

He shivered slightly. He did this sometimes, shivering at her touch. This time was different, though. It wasn't as...pleasant. In fact, he really didn't like it.

He shrugged it off, deciding to ignore it.

"So, when you ran off earlier...where did you go?"

She looked up at him and flashed a grin. "Now that-" she shook her finger jokingly at him "-is a secret!"

A secret that normally wouldn't have bothered him. Except that this "secret" of hers had prompted a disappearance every day at the same time of the morning for the past week. What bothered him was the frequency.

What bothered him even more than that was the fact that he'd missed it. Consistently.

"Hey." Rosette poked him, setting off another round of not-too-pleasant shivers. "You okay?" He'd been silent too long for her not to notice.

"I-" He shook his head slightly. "Yeah." He smiled. "Yeah, I am." It was good to know she worried about him, like he worried about her. A sign of care, right? God, he loved her. So much. He leaned over her shoulder and kissed her.

He would later compare it to inserting a live electrical wire into one's mouth. Not that he had ever done something so idiotic, but he'd heard stories of the results. The initial shock, the pain, the inability to let go - the symptoms sounded akin to those he felt during that one kiss.

He shouldn't have been able to feel that energy. It never should have been there. His horns began to scream.

Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

He finally found the strength to tear himself away from her, breaking the powerful energy bond that had formed through their kiss. Hands around her shoulders, he held his love at arm's length, shaking slightly and gasping for breath. His mind was reeling.

_Sharing energy...through the lips..._

And the strong, bitter, metallic taste in his mouth that just wouldn't go away - the taste of negative energy...

"Chrno?" He felt a hand on his cheek, jerked his head up to meet Rosette's eyes. "What's wrong? What happened?" Concern draped her face.

He blinked. "You...you didn't feel that?"

"Feel what?" Now she just looked confused.

He shook his head again, harder this time, trying to clear his mind with only minimal success. "You mean you..." He sighed and stood slowly, releasing her shoulders and placing a hand lightly on her head before turning towards the convent gates.

"Hey." Rosette stood with him. "Where are you going?"

"Out." He had already turned his back (he didn't want her to see the worry on his face) and started to leave.

"No shit, Sherlock! I can see that!" she yelled after him, annoyed. "Can I get some more details, **please!**"

He waved a hand. "I'll be back." Already out of the convent's gates, he turned towards the thick New York wood and disappeared from sight - a trick she'd never seen him use before.

Kind of like the way her so-called "partner" disappeared...

The thought swiftly and immediately left her. This time, however, she noticed its absence.

It was her turn to shake her head. _Chrno's freaking out, and all of a sudden I can't think..._

_What in hell is going on?

* * *

_

"Shader." Chrno knocked at the door of the small cabin hidden deep in the woods. He doubted anybody excepting its occupant and himself knew its location.

He knocked again. "_Shader._"

"Coming," she called. After a lag of several minutes, she opened the door, hair frazzled and a cup of lukewarm coffee in one hand. "Jeez, Chrno, it's so early."

He sighed. "It's nearly noon."

She blinked. "Really? I stayed up past midnight last night...I guess my clock is a little off." She stepped back from the door, and Chrno entered. The cabin's humble entrance seemed quaint and innocent, a stunning contrast to the cavernous basement, filled with every computer known to man and demon alike, that existed under the cabin.

Chrno took a seat in one of the wooden chairs sitting before a table. "I'll get right to the point, Shader. I need your help."

Shader sat down in the chair across from him, looking expectant. "Well, you've certainly come to the right place."

"Great." Chrno gave a tiny smile, comforted slightly in the knowledge that he could count on his friend.

"Tell me everything you know about Power Sharing."

* * *

And that, my friends, would be the end of Chapter Three. (Sigh) This is really not moving as fast ad I'd hoped it would. I'm averaging a chapter every two days, though, so it can't be all that bad. And hey - I broke three pages with this one! (Throws herself a mini-celebration that involves her laptop and a box of chocolate-covered cherries) I think Chapter Four will be just as long, maybe even longer. Why? In Chapter Four, I actually explain some of what's going on here...go me. (Continues the celebration)

I'm apologizing in advance (kind of) for the sporadic posting speed of these chapters and the next ones...I have amazing amounts of academic-slash-scholarship STUFF I need to complete, and my mother has banned all internet use (excepting e-mail) until it's done. When chapters get posted, assume either a) I'm done, b) I'm sneaking it, or c) the ban has been temporarily lifted. (If you're all really desperate for the next chapter, send me some sort of message and I'll e-mail them to you as soon as they're written.)

Speaking of the next chapter: preview time!

_"Jeez!" She stumbled backwards and fell against the wall, frantically flinging the droplets of water off her skin. Even with the water gone, the burning would not subside. "What the hell kind of trick was that! If you ever throw boiling water on me again I swear to God I'll..."_

_"Rosette." The gravity of Chrno's tone cut quickly through her frightened rantings and she fell silent._

_"Do you see any steam above the bowl?"_

_She shook her head slowly. But, if the water wasn't boiling, than what..._

_Chrno dipped his hand in the shallow dish of water and pulled it out. Rosette gasped and pressed her back even harder against the wall as she watched the flesh on that hand sizzle and steam._

_"It's holy water."_

For some strange reason, I seem to be in the habit of torturing my characters. (Sigh) Oh well, they'll get over it. Love conquers all, right? n.n

Thanks for reading and see you all in Chapter Four! Happy New Year!


	4. The Test You Can't Afford to Fail

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

Chapter Four has arrived (finally), along with the majority of the plot. Hopefully I can write this well. 'Cause if not...n.n' Well, I'm not all that sure I want to think about the consequences. As in, reader homicide...heh heh...

And that is more than enough of that.

Amazingly enough, there haven't been any questions concerning the logistics of the plot...actually, it's not really all that amazing when you figure that (as mentioned above) the majority of the plot is here...and I have all of two reviews at this point. (Thank you for the two reviews!) If you're reading this as a desperate cry for reviews...well, you'd be right. Please leave me some commentary on the way out. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. n.n

(Note: I wrote this about four days before I posted it (hence the two reviews). Thanks to everybody who has reviewed since then. n.n)

Enjoy Chapter Four!

* * *

_Chapter Four: The Kind of Test You Can't Afford to Fail_

"You're kidding." Chrno blinked. "That's it?"

"Well, there are many more long, drawn-out, and generally painful ways of testing it, but..." Shader paused and nodded. "Yep, that's all you have to do."

"And if she..." Chrno trailed off.

Shader gave him the _look_. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Chrno sighed. "No, I guess not. Thanks for the help, Shader." He got up to leave and was promptly halted when she threw her arms around his waist. He blinked.

She looked up at him. "Let me know how it goes, okay? You know I'm here if you need me."

"Why do you think I came in the first place?" He smiled and patted her head. "Thanks." She was, he reflected, like the little sister he'd never known he wanted.

"No problem." She turned him around and pushed him towards the door. "Now go test that out and let me get back to my coffee."

Already halfway out the door, he stopped, turned around, and shot a glance at her coffee mug, which had sat forgotten on the counter for the past eighty-five minutes. Its contents were now stone-cold. He looked at Shader and raised an eyebrow.

She caught his look. "What? I like it that way."

He shrugged and, giving her a smile, stepped out of and closed the door. He made an adjustment to a previous thought - she was the _weird_ little sister he'd never known he wanted.

* * *

That had been over an hour ago. He still hadn't managed to gather the courage to perform the test. He hesitated - it might hurt Rosette.

_And what if it doesn't?_ the little voice in his head argued. _What if nothing happens? Then you're fine and you know you've been worrying about nothing._

_But what if I'm right?_ he argued back.

_Then you've got a problem,_ the voice admitted. _But you're sure as hell not getting anywhere standing here and arguing with me. Shut up and go do it._ The voice then fell silent, effectively closing the argument.

Chrno sent the voice several closing remarks, none of which could be repeated in polite company, before realizing he was, in effect, talking to himself.

Further proof that he really didn't handle stress well.

He gave a frustrated sigh and went to go find Joshua.

* * *

"And you need me to help you..."prove your hypothesis?'" Joshua denoted the quotation with his fingers and raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You sound like Shader."

"Well, where do you think I've been for the past hour and a half?" Chrno raised an eyebrow to match Joshua's. "And yes, I do need your help."

"Umm...why."

"I told you what was involved. Do you have any idea how bizarre it would look if I went and tried to get some? They'd think I was about to commit suicide or something."

Joshua shrugged. "Yeah, I guess they really wouldn't give it to you."

Chrno had to struggle to bite back a sarcastic remark. Joshua could match him sarcasm for sarcasm, and more often than not Chrno lost. Needless to say, it wasn't something he enjoyed. He figured he'd better just avoid the whole fiasco in the first place.

"Okay." Joshua stood. "I'll help you out. One of the sisters owes me a favor."

"Thanks. Oh, and by the way..." Chrno trailed off.

Joshua looked back at him. "What?"

Chrno shook his head. "Nevermind. Just thanks." _Maybe I don't want to know what exactly that favor is.

* * *

_

They found Rosette sitting on the rim of that same fountain, smiling and humming a song so off-key that the stray cat that sometimes wandered into the convent was still cowering under a bench some three hundred yards away, paws over its ears.

Chrno and Joshua watched her from behind a massive pillar that, along with a dozen of its compatriots, held up one side of the open-air hallway. The other side, a solid wall, allowed for no adequate hiding places. "Her good mood has lasted for nearly three hours," Chrno whispered.

"That's it," Joshua declared quietly. "Something is definitely up."

"Only one way to find out, right?" Chrno shrugged and walked out from behind the pillar, into Rosette's view. "Hey! Rosette!" he called. "Can you come over here for a minute, please?"

Rosette looked up at the sound of her name, grinned - "Sure!" - stood, and headed over towards where the two most precious men in her life were standing.

Joshua, still behind the pillar, looked shocked. "She...she's almost perky!"

"Have a heart attack later," Chrno hissed. "Be ready now."

"Well?" Chrno hadn't been paying attention - Rosette was already standing in front of him. "What is it?"

"I...I was..." Chrno gulped. "I want to figure something out," he ad-libbed, "and I was hoping you could help me." Well, it wasn't _technically_ a lie.

"Well sure." Rosette took his hand and walked into the hall. "Just show me where it is."

Chrno looked over his shoulder at Joshua. Though his lips were silent, the look in his eyes was eloquent enough. _Now._

Joshua dipped his hand into the bowl of water he was carrying. "Hey, Sister?"

Rosette turned to face her little brother. Before she could reply, however, Joshua splashed her with the water he held in his hand.

She reeled backwards, her mind erupting into sparks of pain. Every bit of bare skin that had been touched by the water began an intense, agonizing burn.

"Jeez!" She stumbled backwards and fell against the wall, frantically flinging the droplets of water off her skin. Even with the water gone, the burning would not subside. "What the hell kind of trick was that! If you ever throw boiling water on me again I swear to God I'll..."

"Rosette." The gravity of Chrno's tone cut quickly through her frightened rantings and she fell silent.

"Do you see any steam above the bowl?"

She shook her head slowly. But, if the water wasn't boiling, than what...

Chrno dipped his hand in the shallow dish of water and pulled it out. Rosette gasped and pressed her back even harder against the wall as she watched the flesh on that hand sizzle and steam.

"It's holy water."

She sank to her knees. Her mind continued to reel, no longer in pain, but in shock. _Did...did I just...get burned...by holy water?_

Suddenly Chrno was in front of her. He hadn't done the disappearing trick: he had just moved while she wasn't paying attention. That she hadn't noticed it showed just how deep the shock had run.

He grabbed her wrists in his hands and pulled her swiftly, almost roughly, to her feet and towards him. He shifted his grip, left arm around her waist and right hand at the base of her skull, and pressed her body to his.

"Rosette." His voice, at first a whisper, gained strength. "Rosette." A pause, the longest she'd ever felt. "What have you been doing?" His tone carried no accusation, only fear, the same fear - she finally met his gaze - that reflected in his eyes.

"I...I..." She broke her gaze, shook her head. "I...I don't...Oh my God." She collapsed against his chest, still in too much shock to cry, or even be scared.

His grip shifted again, strengthened, and he pulled her tightly into his embrace. "It'll be alright, Rosette," he whispered, hoping and praying he wasn't lying. "It'll be okay. I'm here. I'm here. And I won't leave you."

His words melted the last part of her still frozen by shock. Fear washed over her.

She wrapped her arms around his chest and began to cry.

* * *

After sitting in front of my laptop and staring at that last line for a good ten minutes, I have come to the conclusion that there is no way I could adequately follow that up, at least not here. You've guessed it: this is the end of Chapter Four.

I had actually intended to make it much longer and include much more plot and explanation. Amazing how quickly one can write oneself into a corner at 1 am. (Sigh) Sorry - I'll try to put up Chapter Five as soon as possible.

A review I got on this fic last night got me thinking. It was from Scarred Rose (nice name, BTW) and she said she liked the fic and wondered why I wasn't getting more reviews on it. That's kind of what I in my obscurity want to know too. What is the secret to writing one of those fics that garners three-hundred-some-odd reviews for eight chapters?

I have no idea. If I did, I would have written one by now.

So I'm asking for a sort of favor. My goal for this fic is to get 100 reviews (yeah, I know, that's a lot) by the end, six or seven chapters from now. I've done the math, IB geek that I am, and discovered that for this fic, it will only take ten people reviewing each chapter to hit 100 reviews.

This is where all of you wonderful reader-people come in.

I'm asking you to read this fic (as you already are if you're reading this desperate little blurb), review each chapter, and possibly recommend this to other people you know who like Chrno Crusade fan fiction. I don't really care what goes into the reviews - all you have to do is click the little button at the bottom of the screen and type "you rock" or "you suck," however you feel about the fic. (By all means, feel free to elaborate on those little two-word phrases.)

Getting those 100 reviews on this fic is...well, I can't say it's a goal since I don't really have a big hand in it...it's something I'd like to happen before a) I die or b) I stop writing. Hopefully neither of those things will happen anytime soon. n.n

And to my faithful readers: piss(star), ZionCross, Rosette/Chrno Fanatic, Eiashian Lskyia Silver, MisoGirl, JasmineScent85, Black Chaos and Light Catastrophe, and last (but definitely NOT least) ChrnoKeeper: Thanks for sticking with me for "Dear Diary" and I hope you're enjoying this one as well. Your support lifted my mood for weeks.

A great big THANK YOU to everybody and I'll see you all in Chapter Five!


	5. Power Sharing

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

Welcome to Chapter Five, also known as Chapter Four Part Two! I'm actually going to go through all the plot and explanation that should have been in Chapter Four in this chapter, so be sure to let me know if I miss something or if there's something you don't understand.

Thanks for reading and reviewing and here's Chapter Five!

* * *

_Chapter Five: Power Sharing_

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah." Rosette nodded. "A little." She and Chrno were sitting side by side against the wall of the hallway. They hadn't gone far after her crying session. Nobody was around to overhear them anyway: why bother moving?

Well, Joshua was there, standing next to her and looking wary. After his part in the "test," he deserved to know what was happening.

She scooted a little closer to Chrno. He blinked. _If she does that again she'll be in my lap._

_Getting burned by holy water scared her a lot more than I thought it would._

"Rosette." He took a deep breath, let it out. This would not be easy. "I need you to tell me what you've been doing."

"I..." She shook her head, buried it in his shoulder. "I...I just...I..." Her breathing shortened.

_Oh, please don't get hysterical..._ He put his arm around her shoulders. "I'm not angry," he said quietly. "I just want to know so we can figure this out."

Her breathing deepened, evened. Crisis averted, at least for the time being.

"Okay." She looked up at him and proceeded to tell the whole story, from the arm injury that had started it all to the man in the woods and their daily meetings.

"How is the wound on your arm?" Chrno asked quietly when she had finished.

She blinked. "I'd forgotten all about it." She rolled up her sleeve to expose the flesh where the wound had been. "Gone. Not even a scar."

Chrno fought to stay calm. That wound had been a deep claw wound from an exorcist job. It should have taken weeks, maybe months to heal completely. For it to be healed and to have left no scar... _They've gotten that far already!_

Rosette saw the look on his face. "I'm in trouble, aren't I."

"That," Chrno sighed, "is the understatement of the year." He met her eyes. "What you've been doing with this man is called Power Sharing. Not only is it inherently dangerous, it is also highly illegal both here and in Pandemonium."

* * *

Rosette gasped. "What? You're kidding! I...I had no idea!"

Another sigh from Chrno. "Obviously."

"Wait a minute - what's Power Sharing?" Both Rosette and Chrno jumped - they had forgotten Joshua was still with them.

"It's..." Chrno paused, getting to his feet. How to explain this... "It's a kind of trade between a human and a demon. A contract, of sorts."

Rosette stood, shivering slightly. That was the _last_ thing she needed.

"The demon shares their Astral with the human," Chrno continued. "Since the Astral has already been processed through the demon's body, it carries a demonic taint when it travels into the human. As long as the contract continues, the human gains slight demonic abilities: increased speed, stamina, and-" he looked at Rosette. "-healing. The energy from the demon only lasts for twenty-four hours, hence the need for daily meetings." He left out the part about the possibility of the human to gain other demonic powers, namely the ability to channel energy into attacks. He didn't think Rosette needed to hear that right now. Plus, she hadn't been showing any signs of that sort of ability. Not really.

_That reaction that I had to our kiss...that doesn't really count...does it?_

"So if it's supposed to be a trade, what's the demon get out of it?" Joshua questioned.

"The demon can demand a price of its human partner. Normally it's some sort of favor, something the human can do that the demon cannot." Chrno caught Rosette's gaze, the question clear in his eyes.

She shook her head. "He didn't want anything."

"Did he say that, or did he just not mention it?" Chrno demanded, his tone changing from gentle to grave in a matter of seconds.

"He never brought it up." Rosette took a small step backwards. Chrno was definitely not handling this well. She couldn't tell if he was angry or scared. Maybe both.

"You do realize he can still demand that price." Chrno's tone had changed again - accusatory.

"Damn it!" She returned his glare. "How the hell was I supposed to know that?"

"That's not the question!" Chrno snapped. "The question is, how could you even think of doing something like this with somebody whom you know nothing about! I bet you haven't even seen his face!"

Rosette took another step backwards. "Shut up," she whispered.

"Don't you get it," Chrno continued, oblivious to her quiet protest. "In doing this he's created a bond between you! You have no idea what he could be doing with that right now!"

Yet another step backwards. "Shut up."

He grabbed her shoulders roughly, put his face close to hers. "What makes you think he hasn't already messed with you somehow? He could be controlling you! What makes you think he's not in your head right this second!"

Lost thoughts flashed through her head. The missing ideas were all about him...

"_What makes you think you're **safe**_!"

"SHUT UP!" Rosette screamed, putting her hands against Chrno's chest and shoving with all her strength.

Startled, Chrno stumbled backwards.

A sound pitched between shattering glass and cracking rock split the midafternoon air.

Chrno leaned against a pillar, now in his full demon form. He glanced down at his appearance, sent a shocked look to Rosette, hissed an empathetic profanity in a language she couldn't understand -

And vanished.

Joshua looked to his sister, wide-eyed. "What just happened?"

She looked back at him, panting heavily from her outburst. "Your guess is as good as mine."

* * *

"Shader." Chrno knocked on his friend's door for the second time that day, wondering whether she had ever seen him like this. He doubted it.

"I'm coming," Shader called groggily from inside the house, physically awake but - THWACK! Thump. "Owwww! What's that chair doing there?" - mentally still lost somewhere in her afternoon nap.

Chrno's appearance would come as a nasty shock. _Hey,_ the voice from earlier nudged a corner of his mind. _Maybe you should warn her, brainiac._

As much as Chrno hated to admit it, the voice was right. Again. "Hey, Shader," he called. "Before you open the door, you should know that-"

Too late. Shader had finally managed to make it through the furniture-laden obstacle course that was her kitchen (with minimal bruising) and had opened the front door. She gasped in surprise, dropping the ever-present coffee mug that had taken up residence in her hand.

Well, that definitely answered his earlier question. She really hadn't seen him like this before. This had certainly been a day for firsts, none of them pleasant.

He swooped down and caught the mug before it reached its inevitable, gravity-driven end of becoming nothing but broken shards of ceramic spread pell-mell across the tile floor. He winced as the coffee, still unaware that its fall had been abruptly halted, sloshed over the edges of the cup and scalded his fingers. _I thought she told me she liked her coffee cold._

He straightened up, met Shader's gaze. "-my glamour is broken," he finished lamely.

"...So I noticed." She took the mug from him and stepped back into the house, allowing him entrance. He made a beeline for the sink and stuck his hand under the faucet, turning the water on as cold as it would go. Burns were a pain to heal, pun not intended.

"What I can't quite figure out is how," Shader continued slowly. "Who did this to you? Who could possibly be strong enough to break your glamour?" In addition to being a show of brute strength, breaking another demon's glamour was also a grave insult for which death was not an uncommon form of retribution.

"Who broke my glamour?" Chrno gave a bitter laugh.

"Rosette did."

Shader repeated her performance at the door, gasping and allowing her mug to fend for itself against the forces of gravity. This time, Chrno let it fall. Between sprinting halfway across the kitchen, making a spectacular diving catch, and simply being burned again for his trouble or letting the damn thing break...well...

He kept his hand under the faucet's steady flow of water and watch the mug meet its aforementioned, inevitable, gravity-driven end, shattering into tiny ceramic bits and allowing the coffee that had been enclosed within it to spread its Rorschach pattern across the tile.

Chrno looked at the puddle of coffee at a few more seconds, wondering if you really could see shapes in those weird little blobs, then turned his gaze to Shader, who was still frozen in shock. "I don't think you need any more coffee today."

Shader finally broke out of her trance. "That's crazy!"

"No, not really. You're jumpy enough as it is."

"No, no!" Shader shook her head and waved her hands in front of her as if to clear the coffee jokes from the air. "I mean the thing with the-the-the, y'know, and the yeah, a-a-and the..."

"Thank you, Shader." Chrno turned off the faucet and moved to sit in one of the chairs in front of the table. "Your eloquence astounds me." His lip curled in frustration as the chair, which had been so cooperative only hours earlier, now decided it simply couldn't accommodate its occupant's wings and nearly dumped that selfsame occupant unceremoniously onto the floor. Only a balancing act worthy of the circus tightrope kept Chrno's rear perched, however precariously, in that seat.

"But...but..." Shader wound down slightly and sat in the seat across from Chrno. "How could Rosette have broken your glamour?"

Chrno sighed and put his head in his hands, causing him to teeter dangerously in his seat. He wrapped the bony tail that grew from the base of his skull tightly around the back of his chair, careful not to cut into or through the wood. "It's nothing good," he began.

"No kidding," Shader replied. "I thought it would take some sort of disaster to break your glamour. Instead, all it takes is your girlfriend."

"Same thing," Chrno muttered, looking up at Shader. She was sitting and the mug, being smashed on the floor, was absent from her hand. It was the perfect time to drop another bomb.

So he did. "Rosette has been Power Sharing with another demon."

Shader gasped again and fell sideways out of her chair.

Chrno jumped slightly in surprise at this completely unexpected reaction. The small movement caused him to lose his already delicate balance, and he promptly toppled from his seat to the floor, pulling the chair over with him.

And gave a frustrated sigh. He was about level with his mood right now...maybe he'd just stay down here.

"I can't believe Rosette would do something like that!" Shader exclaimed, climbing back into her seat. Realizing he would look rather stupid if he remained on the floor, Chrno righted his chair and followed suit. "I had a hard time believing it too," he replied, "but with the proof staring me in the face, what else was I supposed to think?"

"She just doesn't really seem the type," Shader continued, seemingly oblivious to Chrno's reply.

"I know," Chrno said quietly. "Getting hurt like that must have really put a dent in her self esteem. I thought she'd gotten over it." _I was wrong._

"Hurt like what?" Shader was finally paying attention.

Chrno sighed. "About a week ago, Rosette went on a solo mission. Some demon had gotten ahold of an artifact that amplified demonic powers...something like that. I don't really know the details. The demon was rabble, far too weak to have any sort of rank, but using the artifact...I could feel the power waves at the order, almost a mile away."

Shader whistled. "Amazing."

"Amazing, sure, but definitely not a good thing." Chrno paused for a moment - he wasn't sure how to continue. "I have no idea how Rosette managed to kill it. It ripped into her arm before it went, however. I could tell she was upset that she got hurt that badly by a Rankless, but she acted like it was nothing. I thought she realized the artifact had a lot more to do with her getting hurt than the demon itself did. I thought she knew that it wasn't a sign of weakness on her part." He crossed his arms on the table and buried his head in them. Much to his relief, the chair decided to cooperate and allowed him to remain sitting. "I thought she would come to me if she were upset," he continued sadly. "She didn't."

"Well, of course not," Shader said matter of factly.

Chrno looked up in surprise and had to grab the table in order to keep the chair (whose cooperative streak was decidedly over) from spontaneously depositing him once again upon the floor. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, she loves you, right?" Shader didn't wait for an answer. "I'll bet she looks up to you, too -" She held up a hand to silence Chrno's protest "-at least a little bit. People never want to admit weakness or failure in front of the ones the love. To Rosette, admitting weakness to you would be like admitting that she wasn't good enough to be in the Militia."

A shocked silence followed this speech. Then-

"How...how did you..." Chrno shook his head slowly. "I thought you were a scientist, not a psychologist."

"True." Shader nodded. "I am, however, a girl."

A slight grin crossed Chrno's face. "Touche," he said tiredly. Today's mess had gone from spill to overflow, and "today" wouldn't be over for a good five or six hours. "So," he continued, "now that we know what the problem is, how do we fix it?"

"Well.." Shader drew out the word, obviously thinking rapidly. "Power Sharing is like any other addictive drug. The only real cure..."

* * *

I'm ending the chapter now. How many of you hate me?

(A multitude of hands go up)

Yeah, that's what I thought. It's late, I'm tired, I have homework to do, and this chapter is five pages long. I think I deserve a break of sorts. Chapter Six should be here by the end of the month. (No promises - I have to have two gigantic papers written by the end of the month as well.) I am insanely jealous of those of you who have the time, energy, and talent to update once a week.

(Sigh)

No ranting down here...I'm too tired. Good luck with whatever is going on in your various lives right now, have fun if you can, and please don't kill me. As always, I am actually trying, believe it or not. n.n If you have any questions, leave them in your reviews and I'll try to answer them. Thanks again and again for reading my story.

By the way (and slightly randomly), I've decided I need a beta for this story. (I do have my terminology right...a beta is a happy little editor-person, right?) I'd like somebody to check it not only for the spelling/grammar errors that my laptop overlooks, but also for style and content (what haven't I explained, whether or not I've repeated words, awkward phrasing, etc). Any volunteers? (Hopeful smile) Just let me know.

'Til next time!


	6. Withdrawal

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

Greetings, fellow earthlings. I am so brain-dead right now it's not even funny. (Most of the time, it is. I say some of the stupidest things when I'm brain-dead.)

Chapter Six is here, finally. School is back in swing, and - do I really need to say it? - IB has eaten my life once again. Every once in a while it spits a piece out, and I transmute it back to life and waste it writing this fic when I should be doing something a little more productive, like sleeping. ("Sleep?" What is this "sleep" of which you speak? I know it not.) Shows how badly I want to get this fic done and how much I love my readers. Yes, that means you.

By the way, for those of you who are confused, interested, or just want more random reading material, there will be small explanations of Power Sharing, glamour, and anything else people question me about during the course of this fic at the end of this chapter. Originally Chapter Six was going to be a fic-style author paragraph explaining these things (and giving me a break), but I decided that I didn't want to run the risk of getting kicked off so I scrapped that idea. There really are only so many times you can make Chrno fall off a chair before it stops being funny. (That number, by the way, is somewhere in the triple digits.) n.n

That is way more than enough out of me. Time for Chapter Six to begin!

* * *

_Last Chapter..._

_"So," he continued, "now that we know what the problem is, how do we fix it?"_

_"Well.." Shader drew out the word, obviously thinking rapidly. "Power Sharing is like any other addictive drug. The only real cure..."

* * *

_

_Chapter Six: Withdrawal_

"...is withdrawal," Chrno finished. "Complete cold turkey."

It had been nearly an hour before he had been able to reactivate his glamour and had returned to the Order. He was now in the process of repeating his conversation with Shader (minus the coffee jokes and his inability to stay in a chair) to Rosette and Joshua, who had insisted on hearing the entire story.

"So that's it?" Rosette looked surprised. "I don't need to do anything special?"

Chrno shrugged. "Survive."

The surprised look vanished, quickly replaced with something that bordered on visible sarcasm and fear. "That was reassuring," she spat.

"It wasn't meant to be," Chrno said in a relatively calm tone, approaching her until she stood only inches in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. "This is," he whispered softly in her ear.

The tension that had gripped her body for the past few hours fled, and she slumped against him. "I'm scared," she whispered, a quiet confession for his ears only.

"I know," he replied, gently rubbing a sensitive spot on the nape of her neck. Normally she loved it when he did this. The fact that he wasn't getting any reaction...well, it didn't exactly surprise him, but it definitely worried him.

"Withdrawal?" Even Joshua had dropped his usually-cocky attitude, his voice betraying his worry for his big sister. He had seen somebody go through withdrawal before...from morphine, he thought it was...and it was anything but pretty. "What's...do you know what'll happen?"

"I have a vague idea," Chrno admitted. "There was a previous case on record, and Shader looked it up for me."

"So we're not flying blind here." Joshua breathed a small sigh of relief. He'd breathe a bigger one once he actually knew what the withdrawal process entailed.

"Yeah. Good to know I'm not the only person stupid enough to have done this." Sometime when Chrno hadn't been looking, Rosette had calmed down. He breathed a sigh to match Joshua's. _Thank you God._

"So what do I have to look forward to."

Chrno sighed again, this one anything but relieved. "Nothing good."

* * *

She couldn't say she hadn't been warned. After all, Chrno had told her what to expect.

"Ohhhh..."

But still...

"Agh..."

Why did it have to hurt so damn much?

"Ow. Ow! DAMN IT!"

It wasn't even like the sharp, stabbity pains that came and went. This felt like her entire body was one big bruise and some masochistic son of a dog was pressing on it. Constantly. If she could have moved, she would have killed somebody.

Which, come to think of it, was probably the reason everybody was out of arm's reach.

Not that there were many people in here to begin with. Once they had told Sister Kate what was going on (and survived the ensuing apocalypse), she had allowed Rosette to move into a single room at the end of the hall until everything was over. The only reason most people came down by these vacant rooms was the occasional bout of spring cleaning. Aside from that...well, there was a reason these rooms were vacant.

Her only steady visitors were a nurse who routinely checked up on her "progress" (she was really starting to hate that word), Anna, Mary, and Claire, who came to catch her up on the latest gossip (a welcome break from the Progress Nurse), and Joshua and Azmaria, who came every day for hours at a stretch. Everybody else was - yet another word Rosette was beginning to detest - "busy." Nobody else came by.

Chrno, on the other hand, never left.

Every time she turned around, he was there. She wondered if he left at all - surely he went and did _something_ while she slept. She'd though about asking him, but her common sense had finally managed to recover from the barrage of idiot acts of the last week and prevented her of asking such things of her...her...

What on Earth was she supposed to call him? "Boyfriend" was too casual and gossipy, "lover" was too...serious, almost...what exactly _was_ he to her?

She filed the question under "Things to Think About When You Actually Have the Time" and went back to the more pressing matter at hand - being in pain.

"Are you alright?" Chrno asked gently, beginning to reach out to her. He caught himself, stopped short, and put his hand back in his lap. _Damn._

_Not allowed to touch her. Not for a while, at least._

It was what Shader had told him, and what he had passed on to Rosette. Complete withdrawal from Power Sharing lasted for a week, peaking at the sixth day and finally passing on the seventh. If Rosette had any physical contact with a demon before then, the dying demonic powers in her body would literally suck the astral out of the demon, leaving the demon in a world of hurt and Rosette back at the beginning in terms of the withdrawal process.

Seven days. There was something vaguely biblical about that. He didn't really feel like contemplating that now. He had done a bit too much contemplation lately anyway, although most people would argue that Chrno's particular style of introspection wasn't so much "contemplation" as it was "beating himself up."

_How did I manage to miss this? I'm supposed to take care of her! Damn it!_

Seven long days.

It was only day four and he was already going crazy.

Not being able to touch her wasn't what bothered him. He knew he could live without that. He'd done it too, for several months after Aion's defeat.

Then again, that was before they were...well..."a couple" sounded almost casual, but "lovers" had deep implications that he wasn't sure he could face just yet...blame it on sleep deprivation or the fact that concern and lack of patience were making him crazy, he just couldn't find a word.

And hadn't he dreamed about her during those months? Too many dreams not to be taken seriously...

But that wasn't the point.

He could live without the physical contact, of that he was sure.

What bothered him...no, what frustrated him...what drove him absolutely out of his mind with worry was watching her suffer and being unable to do anything to help her, to ease her pain.

He felt...helpless.

He had been helpless to save Mary, helpless to save Rosette that day in Eden. He'd already lost her once.

The pain of withdrawal had found her even during the night, and she cried out in her sleep. Even during his own rest, he heard it. He relived that horrible day in Eden over and over again in his dreams.

Helpless.

God, but he hated the feeling.

Seven days.

How was it that fifty years could pass in the blink of an eye, yet these seven days were the longest week of his life?

Chalk it up to being one of life's little mysteries.

He sighed and settled in for another long spell of...nothing. At least Rosette was asleep-

Wait, she was asleep? When did that happen?

A quiet smile spread across his face. She really _could_ fall asleep anywhere. Talk about life's little mysteries...actually, in this case, it was more like small favors.

Maybe sleep was the right idea here. He leaned back in his seat and was out ten seconds later.

* * *

Two minds, one shared thought:

_Oh please God, let it stop._

The sixth day had finally arrived. Rosette had been crying and writhing in pain since ten that morning. Azmaria and Joshua had arrived as soon as it started, along with a very concerned trio of Anna, Mary, and Claire. All had stayed, worried beyond belief.

Chrno was hunched against the back of his chair, head tucked to his chest, hands buried in his hair, shoulders shaking. He'd called her name time and time again, his only answer her constant cries of pain.

He'd given up, curled up in his chair, willing time to pass, for this endless day to be over. It had been an eternity since then. Or had it?

He glanced at the clock.

Four hours.

He lowered his head again, trying in vain to block out the little voice whose whispers were louder than Rosette's screams. _Helpless,_ it told him. _Helpless._

Another eternity passed. He hazarded another look at the clock.

Four minutes.

_God damn!

* * *

_

Rosette finally understood the meaning of the phrase, "blind with pain." She couldn't see, couldn't hear...if her body was working at all, she sure as hell wasn't aware of it. All she knew was this hellish little world she'd made for herself. The worst part? She was alone.

_No!_

She railed against the thought. Something had made sure...something...no, some_one_...

Chrno...

_("I'll be with you."_

_"What?" She was confused, to say the least. Wasn't he here with her already?_

_"Shader told me..." He sighed. "Shader told me that I wouldn't be able to touch you starting tomorrow. Something to do with the withdrawal."_

_"Oh." She'd figured she'd be able to curl up in his lap and wait for it to be over. It looked like it wouldn't be that simple._

_"So that's why..." He wrapped his arms gently around her waist and pulled her into a tight embrace. "That's why I'm telling you this now. So you'll know come tomorrow."_

_He shifted, one arm still around her waist, the other following the line of her back. "I'll be with you." His voice was quiet but firm. "I'll be with you. I promise.")_

_He promised,_ she reminded herself forcefully. _No matter what, he promised...what's that thing he always says?_

It took her agony-numbed brain several seconds to remember the phrase. Finally, she drudged it out of the recesses of her mind.

_What was it...? Oh, yeah._

_I don't make promises I don't keep._

He was there.

A gentle warmth spread through her body. The pain was still there, but it wasn't quite so...unbearable. She wasn't going to lose her mind to it anymore.

She relaxed slowly, clinging to that presence, that warmth. Finally, slowly, she fell asleep.

* * *

Well, this certainly felt weird. He hadn't slept in his own bed in...a week, he thought. Yeah. A week.

He yawned and rolled over, glancing at the clock. Seven a.m. Hunh. He really did sleep better here.

Rosette had finally fallen asleep after a half-dozen more eternities (which added up to about seven hours), a welcome signal that the worst had passed. She would be fine.

Once they were sure of this, the first thing Anna, Mary, and Claire had done was kick him out with instructions to "get some sleep!"

"But...but..."

"No arguments!" They had pointed their guns at him, threatening to - they had used some cute euphemism, what was it? - ah yes - "squirt metal" at him if he refused to comply.

One run-in with an errant Gospel had been more than enough to last him for the rest of this lifetime and well into the next. He went to his room.

That had been...last night? No, night before last. That would make this day eight.

He bounded out of bed and sprinted down the hall, nearly running over a sister returning from her night shift. "Oh, jeez!" He screeched to a stop and turned around. "Sorry!"

"It's okay," she laughed, waving him on. The story of Rosette's Power Sharing had spread through the convent this past week. Everybody knew what day it was. They'd all resolved to be well away from Rosette's room that morning. After all, as entertaining as it would be, nobody really wanted to interrupt a romantic scene.

Of course, Chrno was completely unaware of this.

"Thanks!" He turned back around and ran the rest of the distance, this time a little more careful to watch where he was going. He finally reached Rosette's temporary room and leaned against the door frame, trying to catch his breath. He felt like a kid at Christmas.

...No, not really. There was a little less excitement in this feeling and a lot more relief.

He slowly cracked the door open and entered, moving towards the bed. Of course she was still asleep...it was seven in the morning. More importantly, it was Rosette at seven in the morning.

He smiled and pulled the eastern blinds open, letting the pinks and oranges of the spring sunrise flood the room. Things were finally getting back to normal. He hoped.

Rosette yawned slowly and opened her eyes. "Mm?"

The smile...changed, somehow. From happiness to relief, gaining almost a tender quality. "Good morning, dear heart."

"Chrno..." Rosette rolled over. "What day is it?"

That stopped him short. He'd been thinking of the days in terms of numbers, not names or weeks. "Um...well...it's been eight days..."

"That's what I wanted to know." She sat up slowly. "Gad, I ache."

"The smile changed again. Mischievous. "I can fix that."

"Really." Rosette now had a smile to match Chrno's. "Prove it."

"Don't need to tell me twice." The smile was now a grin. "Scoot over."

Rosette grinned and scooted. Chrno sat down next to her, pulled her into his lap, and wasted no time finding her lips with his. Sure he could live without physical contact. Didn't mean he didn't miss it.

Several minutes passed before either of them remembered the need to breathe.

They broke apart. Rosette leaned back against Chrno's arms and laughed.

Chrno blinked. Even surprise couldn't banish the smile from his face. "What the...?"

"Oh, quit asking." Rosette laughed again and threw her arms around his neck. "Let's do that again."

_She's lost it_ competed for space with _Well, I guess I'm not the only one who missed this_ in Chrno's mind, finally settling on _Maybe that's a good thing._ Then they kissed again and he wasn't thinking anymore.

* * *

Holy cow, I'm finally done! Unbelievable! It only took me a month start-to-finish to complete this thing...and I finish it on Super Bowl Sunday (between laughing at the commercials, yelling at that HORRIBLE call the ref made first half (he did SO not have that touchdown!), and watching the Rolling Stones live. Which is actually really fun. One wouldn't think a forty-some-odd year old band made up of sixty-some-odd year old guys would be enjoyable. One would be wrong there. Go figure.

And now I owe you all one heck of an explanation.

Here's part one: I HAVE BEEN DEAD FOR THIS PAST MONTH. I was told I'd have to write one paper for history. Then I found out that, because of something my previous English teacher neglected to tell our class (we switched teachers at semester), I had to redo my World Lit paper, which gets sent straight to IB for ten percent of our English grade. Oh-kay. Then I find out our Group Four science project is also due at the end of January. That's three major papers, in addition to regular math, chem, English, and history homework, as well as scholarship applications and all the other various responsibilities I have at home. And I had a cold and felt like crap for a couple of days. I have gone through a lot of Mountain Dew this month, as well as done a lot of twitching.

So that's my excuse. General dead-ness on my part. That and the fact that I had a terrible time trying to write this scene, especially day six. (Moan) Oh well, at least that's over with.

Now for the glamour explanation.

First, I have a word origin desk calendar (and I love it!), so here's the explanation from that. "Glamor: Television and movies may get most of the attention in modern times, but, in earlier eras, the written word was the ultimate form of power. This word began with the Greek term _gramma_, meaning "something written." In Middle English, this became _gramary_, referring to learning or the study of language. Over time, _gramary_ became _glamour_, the meaning narrowing to refer to a specific kind of writing, that associated with magic and magical spells. By the 1800s, the reference shifted again, referring to enchantment or "magical beauty," from which the modern meaning arose." Whew! Extensive, that, but very thorough.

When I refer to glamour, I'm talking about the enchanted beauty thing. (I'm taking the Laurell K. Hamilton definition here.) Chrno is always in his full demon form when he has his horns. He exerts a certain amount of Astral to make him look/feel/seem human. This look can be modified (for example, he could change hair or eye color), but it requires more Astral to change the look from its normal form. Basically, glamour is so natural to demons that they only ever think about it when they drop it, exposing their full demon form. For all intents and purposes, glamour is one of the strongest things a demon can do with Astral, simply because it is maintained almost constantly, 24/7/365. That would be why breaking someone's glamour is such a shock and an insult, as well as being a show of strength.

As for Chrno in his smaller form...well, that's tough. n.n' I think that's just what his body reverts to when completely stripped of extraneous astral. There may still be some glamor (because how else can you explain his eyes changing color?), but not nearly as much, simply because he doesn't have the Astral to afford it.

The explanation for Power Sharing is much simpler. Power Sharing for the human is like having horns (think Joshua), only with a dependance on the demon providing Astral and without the side effect of going completely wacko.

Hopefully that explanation works for ya. If you still have any questions, put them in your reviews and I'll respond as best I can. Y'know, next time I manage to resurface from the Cult of IB and actually check my e-mail.

Just to warn you, the next chapter should be relatively short. I wrote you six whole pages here, not including Authoress Blurbs: I think I deserve a break in the form of a shorter chapter. That, and Chapter Seven wasn't ever going to be very long anyway. No preview for the chapter, either - I want to finish watching the game. (Darn you Broncos for losing the Finals! In that case, go Seahawks! Let's see how much of an idiot I look like tomorrow morning! Woo hoo!)

...Waaaaay too much Mountain Dew this weekend. Nowhere near enough sleep. Y'know, like usual. n.n Anyway...Thanks for reading, sorry for the unreasonably long wait, please review (hopeful grin - we're still trying for the hopeless dream of 100!), and see ya next chapter!


	7. Something Wicked

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

Hello again! Well, I look like an idiot...Steelers won. (Sigh) I guess you can't have everything...and I'm not an anti-Steelers person or anything, I just would have liked the Seahawks to win. Oh well.

So what was everybody's favorite Super Bowl commercial? I was particularly fond of the one with the fly..."well, that killed him." I laughed so hard my eyes watered. What about you guys?

I certainly hope everybody got the explanation on glamour. If not, please e-mail me questions, and I'll answer them as best I can. (Just don't put anything suspicious in the subject line, or it'll get deleted. There's this new virus going around, and I want to be careful, especially since the internet is on my parents' computer...you know.)

I received particularly good news the other day. I'm a National Merit Scholarship Finalist! Yay! (Does a very, very happy dance) I have about a 1 in 2 chance in winning, and if I do, it'll certainly help with the college tuition costs. This doesn't exempt me from filling out scholarship applications, though...(sigh)...so time-consuming, and they all want the same things.

That's more than enough about me for one Authoress Blurb. On with the fic!

* * *

_Chapter Seven: Something Wicked..._

If there was one thing Rosette absolutely could not stand, it was a loose end. Disorganized as she was, she liked everything tied up nice and neat at the end. Loose ends drove her absolutely crazy.

Which was why she was about to go tie up hers.

That son of a dog had tricked her, brought her under his control, and made her suffer a week straight out of hell. She hadn't exactly refused...but then again, he hadn't exactly been honest with her either.

Which was why she was going to go kick his ass. One one hand, it would rid the world of another malicious demon who delighted in causing pain and havoc. On the other hand, if all else failed, beating him into a pulp (with the help of her trusty Colt .45) would certainly make her feel a whole hell of a lot better.

It was ten-thirty a.m., and she had just arrived at the tree stump. Let the fun begin.

"Hello," she called, dredging up what little acting skills she had in order to create a convincing performance. She wasn't scared...nothing had changed...a week's absence didn't matter...everything was just as it was before...

Pigs could fly...

Unfortunately for Rosette, her opponent had also done his homework on Power Sharing. Even worse, he was the better actor of the two.

"Why, hello," he greeted her, appearing before a tree with his hat in its customary position - pulled down to shade the upper half of his face. "I've missed you."

"Sorry. Hell of a week." Well, at least that much was true. "Couldn't get away." she shrugged innocently and forced a smile.

"Oh." He gave an easy Gallic shrug. "So sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, well...everything's jake now." The smile became markedly more forced.

"Good to know." The demon moved closer, reaching for the back of her neck. It took all the strength of will she possessed not to move out of the way. This was what he had always done. He didn't suspect a thing. Just like normal, right?

Except now that she knew what was going on, it suddenly wasn't so "normal" anymore.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, she went for her gun. Her hand reached the lip of her holster just as his hand reached the back of her neck.

Her focus shifted, crossed, finally righted itself. She found herself on her knees.

When had she fallen?

More importantly, why couldn't she get back up?

She tried to move something, anything. No luck. She couldn't feel a damn thing. About all she could do was blink. That, and talk. "What the hell is going on?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a malicious grin spread across her captor's face. She was sure shivers would have run down her spine if it weren't so numb.

"Why do you need to ask?" The voice had lost all the amiability it had once held. In its place was nothing but chill. No object, no emotion, just a sub-zero coldness that froze the back of her neck.

Or maybe that was his hand. Yeah, that sounded about right.

Or, better yet, maybe she was just scared.

"After all, I'm sure your precious Chrno told you all about it." A glimmer of malice crept into that frozen tone. _Great,_ Rosette gave the mental equivalent of an exasperated sigh. _Yet another demon from his past...so to speak._

"So you know we had a contract," the demon continued. "I hope you made good use of my power." He began to lightly stroke her cheek with his other hand. She flinched. "Because now I intend to use yours."

She resisted the impulse to show off her impressive knowledge of profanity and insult. "What the hell are you talking about? I don't have any power!"

"But of course you do, my dear sweet little nun." He grabbed her chin and turned her to face him.

Her lip curled at the epithet. _If you call me that again I swear I will bite you._

All thoughts of rebellion froze over at his next words.

"After all, he loves you, am I right?" He said "love" the same way some people uttered "idiocy" or "necrophilia." "I can use that." He let go of her chin and straightened up, the one hand still on the back of her neck. "After all," and his grin widened, "what man doesn't have a weakness for a pretty girl like you?"

Rosette gritted her teeth, again biting back several unsavory phrases. "How did you know?" There. That was safe enough...maybe. "How did you know I had talked to Chrno?"

He cocked his head to the side, his mouth taking on a patronizing smile to replace the malicious grin. "I talk to animals. They have so much to tell me."

Rosette stifled a gasp. "The stray cat..."

"And the birds..." the smile once again became the grin. "And now him." He waved his hand and a black mastiff appeared as if from nowhere.

Rosette quirked an eyebrow. "Isn't a dog a step down...?"

"Oh, no. Fido here is very intelligent." The demon patted the dog's head possessively.

Rosette's other eyebrow rose to match the first. "Fido?"

"Oh, give me a break. I made him when I was only a kid."

"You MADE him?"

"Yes. He's my familiar. Do I have to explain everything to you?" The demon's tone became impatient, frustrated, as he realized that he was wasting time. "No more." He waved his hand shortly. Fido gained a grin eerily akin to his master's and turned, bounding through the forest.

"And now we wait." The voice smiled. "Soon your lover's life will belong to me."

Rosette's jaw clenched. _Not if I have anything to say about it.

* * *

_

Okay, so it only took me a month and a half to update...not bad, considering this thing actually has a plot...right? (Sheepish smile)

Okay, it's short and it's weird (especially the Fido thing...), but I figured I only had so much time before y'all broke out the pitchforks and came to claim my head. That, and I was _tired_. Laser tag really takes it out of you. So that's my excuse for the quality of this chapter...I tried, people. I really did.

Believe it or not, I started writing this chapter right after I posted chapter six (as you can probably tell from the opening author paragraph...yeah, that's only from February...eh heh heh.). Better late than never, right? Right...? (Dodges flying objects and pulls a Ritsu) I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'M SOOOOOOORRY!

(Pant pant) So, between this, English orals, various portfolios, math tests, assignments, other fatal parts of IB life, and my other fics, Chapter Seven should be posted around...the end of April? (I know it's depressing, but at least it's realistic.)

Thanks for sticking with me through this ridiculous period between updates, please leave me a review of some sort, and I'll (hopefully) see you next chapter!


	8. This Way Comes

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

Yay for Chapter Eight! Can you believe we're almost done? Only two chapters after this one and it'll be over. (That way, I can start writing a new one...I mean, God forbid I try to write fewer than four fics at once.) I'm happy, yet at the same time I'm sad. (Sigh) At least my English oral is done. I think I've set a record: I am the only IB student in existence who has managed to reference Hamlet, FullMetal Alchemist, and Red vs Blue, all in under thirteen minutes...pertaining to an Atwood poem. My English teacher loved it. (Then again, this is the same English teacher whom I got started reading FMA, so there ya go. n.n)

Before I start, one thing (containing multiple wordy parts, so bear with me): THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of my reviewers. I'm at 48 already! YAY! That's about a dozen more reviews than my previous record...and you all make it happen. I am so grateful I can't seem to put it into words.

To Scarred Rose: Oh, my God, I've never had such high praise. Ever. I was grinning so hard my face hurt. The grin stayed for quite a while afterwards. (And yes, I do need to have my head examined. That's a given.)

Time to repay the favor: all of you readers out there, go read Scarred Rose's works of art! You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll like them so much you'll want to keep them all to yourselves - forget bringing the kids. At least that's how I feel. Y'all aren't my kids, so I have no problems sharing. n.n

Quite a few of you had questions about Fido...my excuse is, it was late, I was insanely tired, and procrastination on studying for the next day's English oral was at a maximum. Really weird stuff tends to spontaneously appear during those kinds of moments. As for Fido itself...first of all, if you've ever seen a mastiff, you know they're HUGE. (We're talking waist-high on Chrno. Yeah. HUGE.) The image I had in mind for Fido came right out of Hellsing: he looks kinda like Alucard's familiar, except bigger and with fewer eyes. Hopefully this clears something up for somebody.

And that's more than enough of that. Fic now. Riiiiiiiight.

* * *

_Chapter Eight: This Way Comes_

"Did you feel that?"

Joshua looked lazily over his shoulder. "Feel what."

Another wave of energy pulsed through the late-morning air. "That," Father Remington said matter-of-factly.

"Oh. That. Yeah, I do now." Joshua shrugged. "It's quite a ways off."

"And coming closer."

"And we just conveniently happen to be near the gates." Joshua sighed and shot a look at the priest standing behind him. "You've been sensing this for a good ten minutes, haven't you," he accused.

"Mm-hmm." A self-satisfied grin, the one Chrno had dubbed "that annoying little smirk," came to rest on Remington's face. _By the pricking of my thumbs..._

"So there _is_ a reason Sister gets so annoyed with you." Joshua rolled his eyes.

"Oh!" Remington snapped his fingers. "Speaking of which, where is that sister of yours?"

"Oh, she's with me," came a voice.

Both priest and pupil whirled around to see a huge black dog loping smoothly towards the gates.

"What the..." An incredulous look passed over Joshua's face.

Father Remington's lip curled as he reached for his sword. This was no ordinary dog. "What do you want?"

"An audience," came the voice again, "with the anomaly amongst your men." The dog's lips never moved.

"Whose familiar are you?" Remington demanded.

"Oh, please," the voice laughed at him as the dog slowed to a stop, "I'm talking right through my familiar. It was a hell of a lot easier than ventriloquism." The dog sat. "You may as well address me."

_I'd rather kill you._ Aion was dead. What other demon had the gall to approach the Order directly? "What do you want?"

"I already answered that." The eye-roll that must have accompanied that statement was nearly audible in its tone. "But I guess I'll say it again, once more for the poor stupid humans..."

Father Remington was about ready to kill the familiar. Mangy mutt...This damn demon was having _way_ too much fun messing with him.

"...Take me to Chrno."

"What?" Of all things, this was the last one Remington expected.

Sigh. "You know, Chrno. The Sinner. Broken Horns. The Ignoble One. Or whatever-the-hell you call him nowadays."

"Generally, we call him by name." Joshua caught the voice's sarcasm and flung it right back at him. He was getting rather good at that...goodness knows, he'd practiced enough on Chrno.

Another nearly-audible eye-roll. The demon was not impressed. "Ah-ha. Real funny, kid. Look, I know the asshole's here, lemme talk to him."

"Say the magic words." Now Joshua was teasing.

"I will eat your immortal soul."

"...Those aren't they."

"I hate you, kid." Now the demon was just plain pissed. "I really, really hate you."

"Oh." Joshua shrugged offhandedly. "Yeah. Sure. Great. Whatever peels your banana."

Now even the dog was beginning to look agitated.

"Joshua," Remington said in a voice he forced to be light, "please take our-" He coughed. "-guest to Chrno."

Joshua shot him a look that plainly said _What the hell?_

Remington sent him an equally eloquent look. _It's Chrno. He can take care of himself._

Another look from Joshua. _Oh-kay..._

The dog looked confusedly from one to the other. _Well shit_, the demon mused, _I just completely missed that._

"Um..." Joshua looked at the dog, "Follow me, I guess..." and started walking. The dog got up to follow.

"By the way," Joshua threw over his shoulder. "I have a gun. Attack me and I'll shoot you."

"Oh, please," the demon snorted. "I value Fido more than that."

Joshua stopped short. "Wait...you named your familiar "Fido?'" Sigh. "What are you, six?" He rolled his eyes and resumed his brisk pace.

"Oh, lay off," the demon grumbled as the dog fell into step with Joshua.

* * *

Chrno sighed and leaned against his tree. This was indeed the perfect spot. Still within the bounds of the Order, yet far enough out that the Elder's cottage was just within hearing range. That way, he'd be able to hear if any explosions happened and still have time to effectively disappear -

Erm, that is, he'd be able to go help...

Oh, who was he kidding? Like he wanted anything to do with anything that happened in the Elder's cottage. He needed that like a hole in the head - except in his case, it was _another_ hole in the head...he'd had several, thank you, and none particularly appealing...like getting his horns ripped off...and that Gospel...

Depressing, off-topic thoughts aside, this really was the perfect spot. He'd have to bring Rosette here sometime.

Speaking of which, where was she? He hadn't seen her since...

...since about ten this morning...

He stood up quickly. _No way. NO WAY. She wouldn't..._

_...would she?_

He shook his head roughly, furious at himself for his moment of doubt. He knew her better than that. She would never go back.

Then again, he hadn't thought she would ever start...

He snarled and struck the tree behind him, leaving deep gouges in the bark. _Dammit! DAMMIT! How could this happen!_

"My," came a voice. "Temper, temper."

Chrno whirled around, barely managing to wipe the fury from his face before his eyes widened. Damn, but that was the biggest dog he'd ever seen. And what was it doing with Joshua?

And why was it talking?

He shot Joshua a look that plainly said _What on God's green Earth...?_

Joshua responded with a short look and a shrug. _How the hell would I know? Just go with it._

Chrno gave a matching shrug. _Oh-kay..._

The demon gave a quiet sigh. _I have got to catch up on my body language translations._

And spoke up. "I've been looking for you, Chrno."

Chrno gave an offhanded shrug. "Good to know."

The dog cocked its head to the side. "What," came the voice, "you don't think it's weird that you're talking to a dog?"

"Oh, I'm not talking to a dog." Chrno crossed his arms. "I'm talking to some idiot who sent a familiar because he's too damn scared to face me himself. So," Chrno gave another little offhanded shrug - he was getting rather good at those, "no. Not fazed."

It took the demon several long seconds to realize he'd been insulted. "...I hate you."

"Hey," Joshua piped up, "he hates me too. We should start a club." Fake enthusiasm - the absolute pinnacle of good old-fashioned Christian sarcasm.

"Oh, I wouldn't make fun of me if I were you." The demon acted important despite his immensely convoluted grammar.

_I bet you wouldn't make fun of you if you were you either._ Chrno raised an eyebrow. Evidently his own grammar was just as bad. His point still worked, though.

"After all," the demon continued, acting important, "I have something I think you might want."

"Oh really." Chrno raised his other eyebrow even with the first, sensing that the fun might soon end. "And what could that be?"

"How about your lovemate?"

Chrno's entire body tensed and he hissed as a momentary flash of fury passed before his eyes.

"You...you...!" Joshua was also feeling that fury. "Don't you dare touch my sister!"

"Too late." Said with enough smugness to choke both boy and demon. Even the dog grinned.

It took all the self-restraint Chrno had to keep himself from attacking the canine familiar standing in front of him. Joshua, however, had no such restraints and swung at the mastiff's head, pulling his hand back only when the dog turned and snapped his jaws shut a mere hair's breadth away from the boy.

"I wouldn't do that," the demon scolded mockingly. "Fido doesn't like being attacked. It makes him angry. Why, I might even lose control of him." The dog's lips drew back in a snarl. Joshua took a grudging step backwards, returning the angry facial expression.

"Now," the dog's eyes turned to Chrno. "Let's talk. I assume you want this beautiful young lady back, yes?"

"You...No way." Chrno said slowly, still trying to wrap his head around all this. Rosette would never let herself get captured so easily. "You're bluffing."

"What, about having your lovemate? Now Chrno," the voice took on the tone of a suave negotiator, "you know as well as I do just how dangerous it is to accuse a demon of lying."

Chrno's lip curled. Now everyone was wearing a snarl. "...fine."

"See, now that's what I thought." The voice suddenly sounded happy in a scarily inaccurate "we're all friends here" kind of way. "Are you going to listen to me now?"

"Wait." Chrno held up a hand. "First. I don't know you; therefore, I couldn't have done anything to you, at least not directly."

"Oh yes," the demon snickered, "very sound logic, sir ex-duke."

Chrno ignored the insult. "Who sent you?"

"Now that," the voice adopted its most annoying tone yet. "...is a secret."

A low growl rippled from the back of Chrno's throat. Sensing he was playing with a very dangerous sort of fire, the demon decided to hurry it along. "Like I was saying...you want her back, right?"

"Of course." The words were low, pointed, dangerous. The fire was getting hotter by the minute.

"Well then," the dog rose, "come with me." It turned to leave.

"Right." Chrno laughed derisively. "It can't be that easy."

"Oh, believe me, it's not. This is just the first part." The dog looked over its shoulder. "Now are you coming or not?"

A frustrated sigh. "Yes."

"Me too." Joshua had his stubborn look.

"No, you're not," Chrno and the voice snapped in unison. Chrno blinked in momentary surprise while the voice continued. "No room for you in this one. So sorry."

"But...!" Joshua turned an angry, stubborn expression from the dog to Chrno and back again.

"No," Chrno told him, a little more in control of his emotions now.

But with the demon's next words to Joshua - "Don't worry, I promise no more...touching...until your friend gets here." - that control nearly snapped. His glamour flickered slightly, allowing a momentary glimpse of the furious demon just beneath the surface.

The dog skipped several steps to get away from that fury. _Maybe,_ the demon reflected, _that wasn't the best thing to say_. And then aloud, "Time's a-wasting, buddy. You want your girl, hurry it up."

Chrno growled again, softer this time, as he turned to follow the dog. The quiet, angry words came before he could stop them. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, you'll see." The dog glanced over its shoulder. Satisfied that Joshua was not following them, it faced front once again and jauntily trotted off, tail wagging.

"You'll see."

* * *

Wow. It's only been, what, a week since I last updated? Not bad, considering.

I could've sat here and mocked the nameless demon all day. It was just too much fun. Kinda sad, yes, but...still fun... n.n

And for those of you who don't get Father Remington's "thumbs" line...read your Shakespeare. And the titles of this chapter and the one before it. It'll come sooner or later, trust me.

Now, to completely change subjects on you, I have a rant that's been sitting on my chest for the better part of four hours, and I'm going to take it out here. (Yeah, I know: I need a blog.) Some of you may hate me after this. That's perfectly fine by me. You don't need to agree, or even read this, if you don't want to. You've been warned.

Before I begin, keep in mind: you must know both sides of a story before you truly understand it.

I hate our media.

I heard a story on the news tonight. A man in Iraq was standing in a blood donor line. Several American troops saw him. I'm not sure if they knew he had terrorist connections or if he just looked suspicious: for whatever reasons, the troops pulled him aside. They saw he was wearing a suicide bomber belt.

Did I mention this was right outside a blood bank, where hundreds of civilians were selflessly giving their precious blood so that others less fortunate than them might live?

Long story short, the troops executed the terrorist before he could detonate the bomb on his body, thereby saving hundreds, possibly thousands of innocent lives.

And the media told this story like it was a bad thing. Like our troops had done some terrible deed that could not be repeated for fear of inciting a riot in the masses.

Right. Sure. Pardon me while I go pity the poor suicide bomber.

I really hope you caught the sarcasm in that last sentence.

Yeah, I know, "Thou shalt not kill." I believe that. Then again, I always interpreted that to mean "Thou shalt not go and arbitrarily murder thy neighbor for shallow, stupid reasons." I also believe "do unto others" and "whenever you take care of one of my people, you take care of me." Weren't our troops taking care of those hundreds of donors and nurses when they saved them from death and bloody mutilation at the hands of a terrorist?

Here in Colorado, we have this great little law entitled the "Make My Day" law. It basically says that if anybody comes onto your property with the intent to hurt you and yours, you have the right to take whatever measures necessary to get them to leave, even if those measures involve a bullet and a body bag. So wasn't the execution of the bomber a necessary measure to save the donors and nurses?

I know somebody out there will try to come up with another possibility. Couldn't they have taken the belt off the guy? Couldn't they have taken him elsewhere? With a skilled bomb technician and a heavy sedative, sure. With those items, several other options would have become viable. What we had on the scene were several troops (I don't know the exact number, but I'd guess less than a dozen, if even that) and a potential mass murderer. They were also missing the time to find another way. I don't see any other option than the one the troops took.

And, as I've said numerous times, I believe they were right. Isn't this one of the reasons we even have troops in Iraq: to keep the Iraqis themselves safe from their more extreme compatriots? If one man had to die to save the lives of hundreds, so be it. If that one man intended to kill himself anyway in order to murder those innocent hundreds, hey - even better. Either way the man would have been dead. It was the actions of the troops that prevented him from taking hundreds of innocent, unwilling victims with him.

And when it all comes down to it, which story would you rather have: "Several American troops killed a suicide bomber today before he could detonate at a local blood bank" or "Several American troops, along with hundreds of donors and nurses, died today when a suicide bomber blew up a blood bank"?

Yeah, I like the first one too.

I know I'm biased, I know I can be rude, and - most importantly - I know I'm only telling one side of the story. This is just how I feel. Feel free to disagree. Just don't tell me I'm wrong - after all, only knowledge can be wrong. Feelings can't.

Thanks for listening. I'll see you all next chapter, hopefully in a calmer frame of mind. n.n' Have a nice day!


	9. The Voice of Reason

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

Hello! The calmer frame of mind has been achieved, and I have returned with yet another chapter.

Though that frame of mind may very well go out the window if I have to read any more of _Beloved_. Seriously, if you have the choice, DO NOT READ THAT BOOK. Of our entire IB reading list, which has included such classics as Jane Austen's _Sense and Sensibility,_ Homer's _The Odyssey_, Dostoevsky's _Crime and Punishment_, Hemingway's _For Whom the Bell Tolls_, and Marquez's _Chronicle of a Death Foretold_, _Beloved_ is the only book that I have absolutely hated with a passion.

I'll give you one reason: I have serious problems reading sex scenes.

And the ones in this book aren't even _good_ sex scenes. Not to mention some other things that happen that would get most anybody excommunicated from the Catholic Church. It's supposed to be an accurate look at slavery. I won't fault the author's accuracy - after all, I wasn't there. (Neither was she, as a matter of fact - she's still alive today.) Every once in a while, though, I just get one of those reactions: I know slavery was bad and all, and I know you want this to be accurate, but _jeez_, did you have to put _THAT_ in there? I have a friend who skipped both breakfast and lunch because of something that happened in that book.

I'll bet I've made you all want to go read it now. Please, for the love of all that is holy and most of what is not, DON'T.

(Sigh) What, me rant? Never...n.n

So, without further ado, delay, explanation, or most anything else, here's the next chapter! Have fun!

* * *

_Chapter Nine: The Voice of Reason_

"This is great! Everything is going according to plan...wow. Am I good, or am I good?"

Rosette had killed more temptations in the past ten minutes than she had her entire life. There went another one - the temptation to answer that question. Instead, she posed one of her own. "You mean you had this planned?" Then, frankly and somewhat derisively, "I never gave you that much credit."

"Oh, gee, thanks." That sentence contained more sarcasm than she'd ever heard this demon use. "I just feel so much better after that."

"You should." A marathon eye-roll accompanied this statement.

The demon ignored her, choosing himself instead as his conversation partner. "What is taking him so damn long? I have his girlfriend! What other motivation does he need?"

_Yeah, no kidding._ Rosette sighed and shifted impatiently.

And realization hit her like a bag of bricks. _She could move_. Not just her eyes, either - everything.

But why? His hand hadn't moved from the back of her neck. If it was still there, then why was she suddenly...well, not free, but definitely freer than she had been.

Why?

She shrugged off the questions, filing it (along with the what-the-hell-do-I-call-Chrno problem) under "Things to Think About When You Actually Have the Time" and focused on her options. How could she sabotage this plan of his?

The possibilities were limited. Intriguing, though...very intriguing indeed.

* * *

_I am going to kill him._

Chrno was having problems thinking of anything else.

_I am going to rip that son of a bitch to pieces for what he's done to Rosette._

It was of course at this moment that the voice decided to reappear and offer its advice.

_CALM DOWN, DAMN IT!_

Several long seconds of mental silence reigned. Then –

_I am really sick of you,_ Chrno commented. _Who the hell are you anyway?_

_I'm Reason_, the voice replied. _Or Sanity. Whichever one you prefer – in your case they're kind of the same thing._

Several more long seconds ticked by. _Wait…if I'm talking to my sanity, doesn't that make me insane?_

_Nope,_ Sanity replied. _'Cause I'm here. If I weren't here, then you'd be nuts._

_…Right…I still don't get it…_

_You don't NEED to get it,_ Sanity responded shortly. _What you need is to figure out what you're going to do when you finally meet this demon. My advice is not to do anything stupid._

_Oh, thanks,_ Chrno replied acidly. _That takes care of everything._

_I'm serious,_ Sanity insisted. _When you're stressed or angry, you're just as impulsive as Rosette. Haven't you ever wondered why so many things get destroyed when you two go on missions? You're a part of it too, buddy._

Chrno just sighed.

"Yeah, I know," the voice from the dog commiserated, "thinking about your impending doom can be rather depressing."

Chrno blinked. "Shut up."

"But you won't have to think about it much longer," the voice continued as if it hadn't heard him. "It's not much further."

"What part of "shut up" do you not understand?" Chrno growled. He could feel the anger building again at the base of his throat.

"The "shut" part," the voice replied snidely.

The fury within him flared, momentarily overshadowing his control and banishing Reason back to his corner. That single moment was all it took for him to lash out at the nearest possible object, unleashing that fury in a single strike that sent the dog soaring through the air.

With a startled yelp and a sickening _crack_, the dog slammed against a tree and began to slide to the ground. Chrno, now back in relative control of himself, watched him fall.

"Don't tempt me."

"Yeah, I don't think I'll do that anymore," the voice muttered uneasily. Fido whimpered for several seconds at the foot of the tree before rising shakily to his feet and trotting off. After a quick mental check to secure his control and make sure Reason had recovered, Chrno followed.

* * *

I am so mad at myself right now I would kick myself if I possessed that kind of flexibility. This chapter was supposed to be so much longer, but, well…okay, I actually have a list of reasons why this one is so unsatisfactory.

1) I decided what I originally wanted to do for the climax was inadequate, so I decided to rewrite it. Unfortunately, I am still in the process of doing so.

2) In IB, April is known as Hell Month. Exams start the beginning of May, so April is where every teacher finishes up everything they failed to cover in class before this point. For me, this included nine mock math exams, reading Salman Rushdie's _Midnight's Children_ (533 pages, for those of you who were wondering) for English, covering several units in chemistry, and reviewing the entirety of Maoist China in history. (I'm a little busy.) Because of this, I found it rather hard to concentrate on my fanfiction this past month. Once exams start, I probably won't be doing any writing until after graduation. Instead of making you all wait until May 27th, I decided to end the chapter here and give you something to read, no matter how much it may suck.

3) For most of my spring break (which is when I intended to finish this fic), my laptop was in the shop being repaired and updated. There went my prime writing time.

4) Did I mention it's Hell Month?

So, all in all, I really am sorry to make you wait nearly two months for this little thing. I promise the next chapter will be worth it, but that's the only promise I'm going to make. As for when it'll be written and posted…um…like I said, no promises.

Thank you so much for sticking with me through this idiocy, and I'll see you all next chapter!


	10. A Perfect Circle

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

Hello hello! The next chapter is finally here, and I'm going to make sure it lives up to the promises I made. As for how I'm going to do that, I have no idea. But I will do it. (smile)

I went to Laser Quest today. This is the first time in all my (eight) years of playing that I've won a game, i.e. came in first. Maybe I should put Zim as my codename more often. (My friend and I were debating going as Sarge and Grif, but we decided we needed more people so we could do the entire group.) The place was overrun with newbies and kids under the age of eight. (I think that's the only reason I did so well.)

I had a huge peeve with one of the new people. The whole group of them talked through the marshal's spiel about how to play, how to work the vest, where to shoot, all that jazz. Then for some reason during the game, they can't figure out why Emu, all the little kids, and I are running (and shooting) circles around them. One of them even came up to me and asked me where to shoot.

Okay, sir brilliant.

I shot him. Then, in my best Tour Guide Barbie voice, "Flashing lights!"

Another girl stalked me, tried to take over my hiding place…and ended up in dead last.

Okay, so I'm competitive…but really, I wasn't about ready to swear a blue streak at somebody every time I got shot. The girl who ended up in dead last _hated_ me by the end of the second game. When one of her friends beat out both Emu and me for first place in that game, the girl nearly threw a party.

She was like the stereotypical cheerleader-person we all love to hate. She even traveled with her clique during the game. That many flashing lights together…too easy.

I'm tempted to frame the scorecard.

And I've just realized I sound really bitter here. I'm not – I just don't have a lot of tolerance for stupid people with God complexes who refuse to listen to any- and everybody else. I put up with enough of that in high school: I don't need to hear it on my weekends.

Oh-kay! (smacks head against wall) That's more than enough of that. You all want to read the chapter, so we're going to start on that now.

So without further ado…

* * *

_Chapter Ten: Full Circle_

When she saw the grimace on her captor's face, Rosette knew things were starting to look up. If the situation was looking that bad for him, it had to be getting better for her and Chrno.

Speaking of which, _where was he?_

And what was she going to do once he got here?

One thing was for sure – she definitely wasn't going to sit around and do nothing. He put her through all that hell, and she was not going to let him get away with it.

A Gospel should do the trick.

"You're thinking angry thoughts," the demon accused suddenly.

"Yup," Rosette replied shortly.

"What do you think you're going to do about it?"

"Kill you." This answer was just as short.

"I agree."

The demon grinned, betraying none of the surprise he must have been feeling. (Goodness knows, Rosette had jumped.) "Chrno. So good of you to come." He snapped his fingers and Fido obediently crossed the clearing and sat by his leg.

"Like you left me a choice." Chrno's words dripped acid.

"Well, you could have decided not to come," the demon replied airily.

_He sounds like Aion and it's starting to really piss me off._ "If I hit your dog again, will you shut up?"

"I did not appreciate that." The demon pointed an accusing finger at Chrno. "Fido certainly didn't deserve it."

Chrno blinked. "You named your familiar "Fido?'" He directed his next comment to the mastiff. "I'm sorry."

"Will you quit making fun of my dog! Good Lord!" The demon was gesticulating wildly with his free hand. "I wanted a stealth mission, but no! You have to talk to Chrno, he says. You need to let him know that he isn't out of the woods just yet. Well this was NOT worth the abuse, and when I get back I'm demanding extra." The demon nodded decisively.

Rosette was lost. "What?"

Chrno, however, had figured it out. "You're a mercenary."

"No, I'm up here getting abused 'cause I flippin' feel like it." The demon may have been calmer, but he was nowhere near sated. A pause – "Brilliant deduction, Holmes."

"So who hired you?" Chrno was not to be deterred.

"Oh. That." The demon shrugged offhandedly. "Lombardi."

It took all of Chrno's self-control to keep from betraying the massive amount of shock that exploded within him at the name. "You know he can't be trusted." His voice was steady. Good. "Do you really think you'll get paid?"

"Oh, I didn't do this for the money." The demon grinned. "Just think of the boost my reputation will receive when word gets out that _I killed a Sinner_! Offers will come pouring in!" The grin got wider. "This job is simply a means to an end."

"You realize I could say the same thing about killing you." Behind Chrno's quiet words lurked a fury waiting to be released.

"Well, sure," the demon shrugged, "you could _say_ it. You won't do it, though. After all-" he gestured towards his occupied hand "-as you can obviously see, I have your lovemate in a power bind. What I say…what I will…" He snapped his fingers. "Goes." He smirked. "If you want to keep her alive, you'll start listening to me."

"Sorry, not today." Rosette stood, grinning at the shock in her captor's face, and decided to take advantage of it. She had always seen takedowns done the same way: one hand to the back of the neck, a swift foot-sweep, and down they went. So that was what she went for – the back of the neck.

This was a mistake.

* * *

_What_

_What in_

_What_

_Happened_

_What _

_Where_

_Where am_

_I_

_What_

_I don't_

_Where_

_Dark_

_Dark and_

_So cold_

_I_

_I_

_I can't_

_See_

_Hear_

_Feel_

_Breathe_

_Oh my God_

_OH MY GOD_

_I_

_I'm_

_Scared_

_Will I_

_Am I_

_Dying_

_No_

_NO_

_I don't_

_Please_

_No_

_I'm_

_So_

_So_

_Scared_

_Please_

Rosette.

_…what?_

Rosette.

_I…_

_I'm here._

I'll be with you.

_What?_

I'll be with you.

I promise.

_Oh…_

_That's right._

_You promised._

I promise.

And I don't make promises I don't keep.

_I know._

_I…I'm still here._

_I'm not going to die._

_I'm still here.

* * *

_

"Rosette?"

She woke slowly to the sound of her name. "Uhn…yeah…"

"Oh thank God." Suddenly there were strong arms around her, and she was leaning against something warm…

Oh.

This was Chrno.

"I'm so glad you're alright…" He sounded as though he were about to cry.

"Yeah…" She wished she could say something more, but for some reason her brain just wasn't working. She looked around slowly, dimly registering the mercenary's dead body and the fact that Fido was melting.

"That is the weirdest damn thing I've ever seen," she said simply, and fainted.

* * *

I can't believe it took me nearly six weeks to write this think. Although I suppose if you factor out all the time I spent studying for and taking IB exams, as well as the rest of the time devoted to senior and IB activities, I suppose it was more like two weeks.

What, me busy? Of course not. (sigh)

And now that I'm on summer vacation (wahoo!) I now have:

1) A bad cold that lives in my throat (can't sing, can barely talk)

2) To clean my bookshelves/desk/closets

3) To get rid of the majority of the contents of my bookshelves/desk/closets

4) To find a job

5) An even shorter fuse than I normally do (hard to believe, isn't it?)

6) NO LIFE.

Like I ever had a "life" in the first place. (sigh) Oh well…that's life, or at least it's my life. Expect Chapter Final sometime before August 22nd, which is when I leave Colorado for Pepperdine. Aside from that, no guarantees.

And a quick response to a comment from Scarred Rose, who wondered if I would be writing any fics after this one: heck yes. Three, maybe four of them. And I need all of your help.

For my next fic I need a bunch of extraneous female characters (get those perverted thoughts out of your minds RIGHT NOW, it's not like that). So please create some for me, because I'm having problems. I need one each in (get ready):

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Austin, Texas

Phoenix, Arizona

Toronto, Canada

Bozeman, Montana (I do have a requirement for this one – she has to be a cowgirl)

Atlanta, Georgia

Reno (or Las Vegas), Nevada

Insert-city-here, Delaware (Sorry, my map's too small)

All of this will be explained in the next fic, but right now I need the characters so I can plan. (Look at all that IB training coming into play. Don't I feel special.) Leave the ideas in a review or e-mail them to me: just make sure you've left me a way to contact you, or I won't be able to use it.

Thank you so much for reading this particular fic and helping me write the next one (kinda)! See you in Chapter Final!


	11. Out of the Woods

**The Source of Power**

**By: Yamiko #7**

Hello again, all, and welcome to Chapter Final! (Or, for those of you who are too numerical to let it go, Chapter Eleven.) This is the first time I've ever reached a Chapter Eleven of anything, and I'm amazed that I've survived this long. It's been, what, five months? (End of December to end of May…yeah, five months.) Wow. So much has happened in that time…I lived through IB, my older brother came home from college, I've gotten sick half-a-dozen times, I turned eighteen…I graduated…and the next time I complain about school assignments, it will be from Pepperdine in Malibu, CA.

Hot damn.

Going back through this fic and reading all my authoress blurbs is like reading a diary. It's just amazing how much has changed.

It's also a sure sign of the fact that I seriously need a blog.

Well, this is the last chapter of this one, and I've certainly kept you waiting long enough, so…here you go!

* * *

_Chapter Eleven: Out of the Woods_

"Rosette? Rosette!"

She shifted slightly. Lord, but she was tired…"mmwha?"

"Oh, her brilliant conversational skills have returned." This voice was different. "She'll be fine."

"Remington, shut up."

She opened her eyes slowly and tried to count the number of people standing around her. Too many. _Jeez, I faint and the people just multiply._

"Don't tell me to shut up," Remington gave Chrno a little half-smirk. "I outrank you."

Chrno stiffened slightly at the words. _Why_, Rosette wondered, then let the worry float away. If it really mattered he'd say something about it.

He kept his mouth shut.

Crisis averted.

Assuming there had been a crisis, that is.

"Sister, I'm so glad you're okay!" Joshua, uncharacteristically emotional, had taken hold of one of her hands.

Azmaria had the other. "You were asleep for so long…" Concern. "Are you feeling alright?"

Rosette took her hands back and sat up, giving the apostle an easy smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." She caught sight of the Magdalene Musketeers, standing at the foot of her bed and sniffling in unison. "What's gotten into you?"

All three of them simultaneously burst into tears.

"_Now_ you've done it," Remington muttered. Chrno hid a smile.

"Chrno walked in the gates carrying you –" Anna started.

"And you weren't moving, and –" Claire tried.

"We thought you were dead!" Mary wailed.

"And then he said you'd be okay, but –"

"Nothing we did had any effect, and –"

"We thought you were dead!"

"And then you were asleep for two whole days, and –"

"No matter what we did, you just wouldn't wake up, and –"

"We thought you were dead!"

Rosette looked at Joshua. "Have they been practicing?"

"Oddly enough," he replied slowly, "no."

Rosette smiled reassuringly at them. "Well, I'm fine," the smile became a grin, "and this time, it didn't take me a week."

The tears stopped. After a couple seconds of silence:

"Well," Anna said slowly, "that's true."

"Good," Claire added.

"Yeah." Mary gave an emphatic nod.

"Now, don't you three have chores to do?" As the Musketeers hurried out, Remington turned to Rosette. "Sister Kate is going to want a full report on her desk by the end of the week. You'd better think of something good."

"Is "I don't really get it myself" good enough?" Rosette replied hopefully.

"Unfortunately, no." Remington flashed a grin and with one final comment – "I'll be looking forward to reading it." – followed the Musketeers out the door.

"Great." Rosette sank back on her pillows. "Just great." She closed her eyes, and before she knew it she was out again.

* * *

"Rosette. Hey. Rosette!"

She bolted awake – "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" – and blinked. "Chrno?"

"Well, you got one right."

She sighed. _Gee, thanks._ "Was I asleep again?"

"Yeah, you were." A pause. "Did you develop narcolepsy when I wasn't looking? Because you were awake for maybe ninety seconds before you dropped out on us." His worry came disguised in the form of a weak joke.

"Ha ha. I'm just tired." Another round of blinking. "Where are Joshua and Azmaria?"

"I ate them," Chrno deadpanned.

Rosette blinked again. Her brain didn't seem to be up to speed today. No surprise, really. "You lie."

"I never lie," Chrno replied airily. "I just make really bad jokes."

"Right." She flopped back down on the bed. "What the hell happened?"

"Well, what's the last thing you remember?"

"The dog melted," she said slowly.

"Yeah. As I remember, that was the one thing you noticed before you conked out on me."

"Like I did two minutes ago."

"Yeah. You know, in case you think I enjoy having heart attacks…"

She smiled. "Alright, I get it. I'll stay awake this time. Now spill it. What happened back there?" She sat up and leaned towards him.

"Well," he stretched the word out, dragging a chair closer to her bed and sitting in it. "I'm not a hundred percent sure myself."

"That's not gonna cut it on a report to Sister Kate."

"Well, then I suppose it's a good thing that I'm not writing one."

Rosette laughed. "Touché."

"Thank you." He grinned. "I do try."

"Now," she sobered up as quickly as if a switch had been flipped, "tell me what happened."

"Well," he dragged the word out again, "like I said, I'm not sure. I've only really ever heard about this kind of thing."

"From Shader," Rosette interjected.

"Of course."

"Because Shader knows everything."

"No, Shader has a computer that knows everything. Get it right." Said with a smile that Rosette couldn't help but return.

"Fine, fine. Anyway, keep going." She waved a hand at him.

"It has to do with the bond the two of you created in Power Sharing," he said slowly. "The price he may have wanted in exchange for his power would have been the ability to control you. He probably thought he could do that using the spot on the back of your neck.

"As far as I can tell, he didn't figure on your personality and the strength of your will. It was too hard for him to control both you and his familiar and talk to me all at once, which is why his control of you was incomplete."

"Solid proof that men can't multitask." Rosette nodded, falling silent when her joke failed to elicit a laugh or even a smile from her companion. "So," she continued quietly, "that's why I was able to move and…do what I did."

"Yeah. "

"So what the hell happened there? It felt like I was caught in something."

"Metaphysically speaking, you were." Chrno stopped, arranging words in his head until they sounded right. "When he initiated the connection, it was a simple flow of energy from him to you, and he controlled it. When you grabbed him, it turned that line into a ring, and both of you lost that control. I…" He started to trail off, caught himself. "I don't know how you broke it and I don't know why he died. Shock, maybe overload, if I had to guess."

"But I'm still here because I broke myself out of it," Rosette said slowly.

"Exactly," Chrno replied. "I think."

"Well _that's_ reassuring."

"Like I said, I do try."

Rosette paused. "So then, why did the dog melt?"

"It was his familiar," Chrno said simply, "made from his energy. He dies, the familiar goes with."

"And why don't you have one?"

"The short answer," Chrno replied, "is that I don't need one. The long answer is that they're a pain in the ass to make."

"But you could if you wanted to."

"Yes."

"Now…" Rosette tried for a minute, but the one question she'd been meaning to ask was just out of her mind's reach. She simply avoided the oncoming frustration and went for another. "Explain something to me.

_As though I haven't been doing just that._ Chrno decided to keep that particular comment to himself. "Shoot."

"Why did you freak out so badly when you found out what I'd been doing?"

"Well, I…I…" He trailed off again. "I…thought I already told you."

"No, not really. You told me it was illegal, and you made it sound like some ancient ritual or something that couldn't be broken no matter what, nope, sorry, not happening. Equivalent trade or what the hell ever. But I broke it." She held up a finger to silence him before he could start. "Yeah, I know, he overestimated himself and underestimated me, yadda yadda yadda, typical bad-guy mistake. I get that.

"What I want to know is, if you knew it could be broken, why did you freak out so much?"

"I…" Chrno tried again, then stopped. "There's no getting out of this one, is there," he muttered.

"Nope."

"It's…I…" _God_ this was hard. "It's because I was scared," he managed. Once those words were out, it seemed nothing would hold the rest of them in. "Somehow I managed to completely miss what you were going through, how you felt…really, everything…you had to turn to a…to a complete stranger to get what you needed. I didn't even notice until it caused me physical pain. I told you I loved you, I swore I'd protect you, and…and I failed miserably at both.

"I was scared I had lost you…I was scared you wouldn't make it through the week…and then when he had you, and you…I…Rosette, I…I'm so sorry," he finished weakly. He looked as though he were about to fall apart.

She took one of his hands in both of hers. "Well," she started slowly, "I haven't exactly been making this easier for you."

He looked up, meeting her eyes, silent. Waiting for what was coming next.

"So…well, I guess we should just talk more," she continued. "It would sure save us a lot of trouble on things like this."

"Yeah. You're right." He smiled. He had cheered up, calmed down…

Great.

Because she had finally managed to catch the question that had been dancing just out of her grasp.

"Chrno, one more thing…Who was that guy working for?"

Chrno was suddenly very quiet.

"What name did he say it was? Lombo…Lombi…I dunno. Something Italian. You freaked out when you heard his name. Why?"

"That's not important right now," Chrno said softly.

"What do you mean, it-"

"_It's not important._" His deep voice cut through her demanding one.

Rosette's eyes narrowed. "You're holding out on me," she accused.

"Yeah, I am." His voice was sharp. "It's demon politics, Rosette, not something you ever want or need to be involved in. If something comes up later where you are involved I will be sure to tell you then, but for now you do not need to know. _It is not important._" The expression on his face told her more surely than any words that the subject was closed.

She tried anyway. "But –"

"No." He put a hand gently on her shoulder. "Please, Rosette, trust me on this. If it ever comes up where you do need to know, I'll tell you, I promise. But for now, you should really be concerning yourself with other things. Like that report." He ran his hand across her collarbone and up her neck, gently rubbing a sensitive spot. "And getting some rest before that."

"Oh…" She was going to argue with him, really she was…except that his touch felt so good…and she really was tired…

"Oh, alright." She leaned slowly against her pillows and was asleep before either of them realized it.

Chrno leaned back into his chair and sighed. He'd had no idea if he would be able to avoid that one, and was pleased to find it reasonably out of his way.

_You know,_ the little voice he'd come to know as Reason reminded him, _you'll have to tell her sooner or later._

_I know._ Even in his head he sounded defeated.

_"Later" being the key word in that sentence,_ Reason added. _Small blessings, huh?_

_Yeah,_ Chrno agreed, closing his eyes and slowly drifting off himself.

_Small blessings.

* * *

_

And on that note, I'm done. Holy cow. I'm finding that rather hard to believe. (looks around) Well, the world hasn't ended…so I suppose things must be okay…but wow. Just wow.

And for those of you who have questions about Lombardi, go ahead and put them in reviews. Just don't expect them to be answered for a while. There is another reason I'm writing another fic after this, you know. No, it's not because…well, yeah, it is because I'm a complete attention whore, but that's beside the point. The point is, I like this little pseudo-alternate reality I've created, and I want to keep going with it. Three more after this one, and expect the next one to be short, with the first chapter coming pretty soon.

Although, come to think of it, I can't really start the next chapter without all those girl characters…c'mon, people, help me out here. Please. Character creation is just not my strong point. (sad puppy dog face) Please?

Anyway…

Thank you all so much for reading this and leaving reviews. Yes, I do read every single one and I enjoy them all. As always, if you don't understand something, challenge it. Challenge me. Goodness knows I need the exercise.

Again, a big huge THANK YOU to everybody who has read this, and hopefully I'll see you all again when the next one starts up. Enjoy your day!


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